


Prologue: Death and the Dragon

by CallingCorvidae



Series: As Above, So Below [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon What Canon?, Gen, How To Parent Dragon Edition, No outlines we make it up as we go along like men, don't know her, god i wish that were me, in this house we make stupid choices and deal with it later, zeref embraces his inner emo and sleeps for several hundred years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallingCorvidae/pseuds/CallingCorvidae
Summary: It started with a song.
Series: As Above, So Below [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943374
Kudos: 8





	Prologue: Death and the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Do I actually have the time to start a project like this?  
> No but I'm doing it anyway; let's see how it goes.

It started with a song. 

It was faint at first, a soft and breathy melody whispered into the darkest parts of the night, winding its way through winter foliage and over pristine, sparkling snow. It curled like smoke, a beckoning siren call, twisting like a silken ribbon in the wind and luxuriating in the light of the swollen moon where it hung, at the apex of the sky. It was the sweet, aching croon of a violin, trembling with vibrato as the sound rose in volume and tone, until the clarion shout of the instrument rang across the wintery forest like a revelation. The sound was excruciatingly intimate, like a lover reaching climax, bone-deep satisfaction resonating in every fluttering hum, yet somehow also wretchedly melancholy. It was both a cry of victory and the tears of a bitter farewell. 

Could he be blamed, then, if his wandering feet changed course without his permission? Was it his own fault that he suddenly found himself at the foot of an enormous mountain, dwarfed by the yawning mouth of a black cavern?

Who could say, in the end. 

He moved like a sleeper, entranced and enticed, focused wholly on the quavering melody echoing from deep within the fathomless darkness of the cave. He hardly noticed the pitch blackness closing in around him, the slow loss of light as he stumbled further in, down the tunnel, guided only by the haunting rasp of the violin ahead. The only time he seemed to falter was, in what seemed like an eternity later, when the light suddenly made a reappearance. 

It was only a pinprick at first, a glint of white far ahead of him, and the softest wisp of a cold breeze, carrying with it the scent of pine and fresh snow. He journeyed forth with renewed interest, dark eyes locked on the faint beacon in the distance. It grew larger and brighter the closer he got, and the sound of the violin grew louder. There were voices as well, soft murmurs and faint whispers threaded in between the strains of music, words and phrases he never quite managed to catch. He struggled to hang onto them as he finally reached the end of the tunnel.

Rarely ever was he struck breathless by anything. Long had he lived, and much had he seen; it was hard to surprise him these days. But the scene before him somehow managed to do just that. 

The end of the corridor jutted out into an ornate balcony, carved into the dark stone of the cave walls. It stretched out further on either side of him, curving into a ring that looked down upon an enormous antechamber. 

The light he'd seen ahead of him was a shaft of pure moonlight, beaming into the cavern from a hole cut into the ceiling. The hole was circular, smooth and perfectly carved to fit the moon at zenith, to make it appear as if the celestial body itself was hanging within the cavern. Its gentle light flooded straight down into the antechamber, where it beamed off of seven equally perfect crystalline spires, arranged in a semicircle on a raised dais at the center of the room. The dais was another perfect circle, a miniature garden in the middle of a sea of black stone, overflowing with lush green grass and gently glowing flowers of every color.

From his place on the balcony, he could see other tunnels connected to the chamber below, leading off into as of yet unknown places within the belly of the mountain. The sheer size of the chamber alone was awe inspiring. 

But none of that was what really caught his attention. The garden, the spires, the details of the chamber, its sharp angles and sloping curves, were all background noise.

His eyes were locked on the dragon, resting majestically on the opposite side of the crystal spires, just off of the dais. 

He'd seen many before, of course. But the size of them, the magnitude of their presence, was always enough to halt him in his tracks. This one was especially enormous, though it still easily fit into the chamber, which itself had most likely been carved specifically  _ for _ such a creature now that he thought about it.

The dragon gleamed under the skylight, a perfect mirror image of the moon above, with gleaming silver scales and a ruff of snowy white fur down its neck and back. Its horns curved back and up, like a pale and thorny crown, and its eyes were a frigid shade of periwinkle. Its wings were long and feathery, the same pallid gray as the dove's, like an overcast winter. But the tips of its feathers were ragged and frayed, plucked and ruffled, and even missing in small patches along the fine bones of each wing. It looked tired. Worn. Sad. 

Additionally, before the dragon stood seven shadowy figures, humanoid silhouettes that were altogether much more familiar to him. He recognized them, and they him.

The violin, held lovingly in the hands of the central figure, paused in its refrain. 

"I had wondered if you might show yourself tonight… Lord Zeref."

The man, the Black Wizard Zeref, looked down upon each figure with a faint sort of tenderness, the soft glow of pride, like an artist gazing at his own creation. His hands came up to grasp the balcony, to lean in close and drink in the sight of them.

"And I had wondered where you and your siblings had vanished to..." he replied, mild with wonder. "My Primera."

"Eth." The figure corrected him briskly. "I am called Eth now." 

Zeref smiled, half bemused and half pleased. So she had given herself a name? He had to assume the rest of them had as well. 

"Eth." He murmured, rolling the name on his tongue and enjoying the way it curled. "Out of all my Etherious, you always were the most headstrong. Is that how you took your name? And your siblings, have they followed you in this as well?"

A whisper of discontent fluttered below, carried along by a fresh breeze sweeping through the chamber. The dragon cocked its head ever so slightly, watching him from the corner of its luminous eyes. 

"We are together in all things." Eth replied evenly. "We have all taken names, because we have decided to become more than what you created us to be." 

Yet again, Zeref was surprised. He'd never imagined that any of his Etherious might grow beyond what he had specifically designed them for. His Nine Demon Gates were a perfect example: creatures of pure energy and power, whose ingrained purpose was to seek him out and destroy him, regardless of whether or not they truly understood it. Not that any of it had ever worked, so far at least. 

Zeref sighed, leaning a little heavier against the railing of the balcony, swept along by a wave of desperate melancholy. 

"I suppose it doesn't actually matter." He whispered, the picture of defeat. "Names will not make a difference. You still cannot free me."

The dragon turned its head to face him fully, its gaze fathomless, like a hand reaching into the very depths of his cursed soul. All was quiet, until:

"Black Wizard," the dragon began, in a voice that dripped with the essence of midnight, "your creations have told me much of your struggles, and of the curse the great Ankhseram has placed on your body."

Zeref turned his own eyes to the dragon, watching with patient despondency as the creature shakily clambered to his feet and slowly limped closer, until he stood beneath his section of the balcony. The dragon rose up on his hind legs, until he was eye to eye with the Black Wizard.

"Despite all the death, destruction, and misery you have wrought upon this world," he continued, "my heart feels only sympathy. The Curse of Contradiction is the cruelest of all punishments, unequal in its capacity to cause suffering. Your quest to find release from it has led you down equally unspeakable paths, and I believe that if you continue to push forward this way, you will do irrevocable damage to your own soul, and to the soul of the world itself."

The dragon craned his enormous head to glance down at the seven demons below, and at the semicircle of crystals. His eyes were full of grief and regret.

"These are dangerous times. Dragon against human. Slayer against dragon. Dragon against dragon. The earth we share is soaked in blood, and I fear we are crossing a threshold, at which point we will never be able to fix the damage this endless war has wrought." The dragon said, sounding every bit as old and ragged as he looked. "I can hear the voice of the moon, and the song she sings is one of endings. There are only a few lines left in the great saga of the dragons. Soon the world will belong to humanity. And so, I have… made preparations. For the dawn of the next era… the singing of a new song." 

He shifted the fur-covered tip of his tail, revealing a sharp, black pedestal at the very center of the chamber, carved from the same stone as the balcony and just as dark and ornate. Resting gently on the pedestal was an oblong-looking orb, a softly glowing artifact that only took Zeref a few heartbeats to identify 

The dragon egg was smooth and oily black, and rather sizable. Its surface was glossy and bright, striped with faint, glowing lights that stretched and bent in a myriad of angles, in blue and green and purple. Zeref studied it in idle fascination, his inner scholar buzzing with equal excitement and inquiry.

"In truth, I had hoped you would show yourself tonight." The dragon rumbled, and Zeref quickly refocused his attention on the beast. "I have a proposition for you. One I think you will find amenable over simply wandering the earth for centuries more."

The dragon rose a little higher on his hind legs, and stretched out one great forelimb, until it was level with the balcony. Slowly, he uncurled his hand, mindful of its razor sharp claws, and invited the Black Wizard to step onto his palm. Cautiously, Zeref pulled himself up onto the railing of the balcony, braced against one of the dragon's perilously large claws, and stepped onto his hand. 

He was lowered carefully down into the chamber, until he could safely move from the dragon's palm to the solid floor of the cavern, bathed in moonlight and standing among some of his oldest Etherious for the first time in a long while. The skylight and the shadows cast from the crystal spires threw them into sharp and unforgiving chiaroscuro. He could see their silhouettes, but not their faces. Not that he needed to when he could remember them just fine. 

Eth the Primera stood tall and proud at the center of their group, a beating black heart with small horns and great, leathery wings. The violin lay gently at her feet. On either side of her stood the towering Segundo and diminutive Trecera respectively, he with his almost angelic features, his feathery white wings and long, flowing robes; she with her sharp, curving horns and twitching spade tail, the very picture of a devil. Then there was the Cuarta and the Quinto, a sharp-fanged vision in blood red, and a still figure in a hooded cloak. The Sexta and the Séptimo capped each end of the semicircle, like twin bookends, each with the same wreath-like horns and glittering scales. The full set, all gathered together in one place: the demons of the Book of Seven Sins. 

Zeref breathed a shaky sigh, smiling at them all with a trembling, broken sort of welcome. The great dragon shifted behind him, until he was resting comfortably again, leaning his aching body gratefully into the cool stone ground.

"The egg is mine." The dragon said, after such a long and weighty pause. "Mine, and my beloved Endellion's. This wretched war, all this strife between dragons… it took her from me. I will not let it take our hatchling as well."

His tail swished languidly, until it was wrapping around the pedestal again, brushing lovingly against the surface of the egg. He seemed to square his massive shoulders, brisk and businesslike.

"I am going to seal my egg away, in a lacrima crystal much like the spires you see before you." He explained. "It will be filled with my magic, my very life force… so it will be as if I myself am protecting my hatchling, for however long it may last. This lacrima is intuitively enchanted. One day, it will choose a champion, an individual whose heart is kind, who will serve as companion and surrogate guardian to my offspring. When that day arrives, the lacrima will break, and the egg will hatch."

The dragon turned to look at him again, with that same penetrating look that rooted Zeref to the floor. 

"I can… do much the same for you. It is why your Seven Sins have gathered here tonight." said the dragon. "Black Wizard Zeref, I can seal you away within a lacrima crystal, enchanted to break only when certain requirements have been met. Inside this crystal, your curse can harm no one. It will be as if you had simply gone to sleep."

"The parameters of the enchantment are flexible." added Eth. "You can make them whatever you wish.”   
  
“I want…” Zeref croaked, hoarse with emotion, struck by the very idea of it all, “to die. I want this curse to end.”   
  
“That, I am afraid we cannot give you.” the dragon replied softly, “No one on this earth can. Not yet, at least. Such is the nature of the Curse of Contradiction. But we can ease this burden, Black Wizard. No one else need suffer the sting of your curse.”   
  
Zeref was quiet as he contemplated, turning the proposition over and over in his head, tilting it this way and that to methodically examine each angle. 

He had created E.N.D to finally free himself from this wretched curse-- from the world itself. But his beloved little brother wasn’t ready yet, sheltered as he was now, under the wing of the Fire Dragon King. Igneel had his own plans for Natsu-- Acnologia, Eclipse, and the Dragon Soul technique. Zeref would not interfere if it meant that such things would make Natsu strong enough to kill him. 

But in the meantime…

In the meantime, would it really be so horrible? To sleep through the millennia-- the changing of the seasons, the movement of the world-- and wake in an age wherein he could finally be freed? He could rest, at peace, while his brother grew in power and ferocity, and when Natsu was ready, he could awaken to meet his longed-for release at last. The very idea grew more attractive by the second.

"This ritual… how does it work?" He asked, glancing at them each in turn.

"That is why we are here, Lord Zeref." replied the Trecera, eerie eyes glinting in the moonlight. "It requires a certain amount of sacrifice."

"The spell I have crafted uses the life force of the caster to create a seal." the dragon explained. "The seal locks the chosen individual within the lacrima, until such a time as the requirements inscribed into it have been met, at which point the seal fades and the lacrima breaks."

"Lord Oberon is giving his life to seal away his hatchling." chimed the Sexta, "As for the rest of us… it will take all of our powers combined to seal  _ you _ away, Lord Zeref."

Zeref stiffened, eyes wide and lips parted in sincere surprise.

"You would give up your lives for this?" he asked, baffled. "After freeing yourselves from the purpose I wrote into you?"

Eth laughed at that, a deep and rasping sound. Her eyes were wistful and soft all at once.

"Take no offense to this as our creator, but it won't be for you." She said. 

"It is for the world." The Segundo finished softly, dark eyes glancing quietly at the moon, the dragon, and the lacrima. "I'm afraid we've grown rather fond of it, and of humanity."

Zeref could find no fault in the earnestness of their desire. Not even if he wanted to. 

The Black Wizard bowed his head, and acquiesced. 

  
  
  


Later, when the skylight above was emptied of its moon, leaving only an inky lake of stars, the great dragon lay alone in his cavern.

The seven lacrima before him pulsed softly, each a different rainbow hue, and freshly supercharged with magic power. They were no longer empty. Each twinkling spire held a single silhouette, featureless and cast in shadows. The seven lacrima were now accompanied by a simple glass coffin, stretched horizontally before the three central crystals. The Black Wizard Zeref slept within it, peacefully oblivious, arms crossed over his chest. 

"May it serve you well, wanderer." Oberon whispered. "The seal will not break until the one destined to defeat you takes their first breath in this world."

Predictably, the man in the coffin didn't so much as twitch. 

The sickly dragon turned to gaze to the opulent gleam of his egg, and felt that old familiar twinge in his massive heart. The poor organ wouldn't last much longer at this rate; not with his beloved mate three months gone. Oberon was lucky to have made it this long with the bond severed. 

He stretched his head forward, a ragged purr in his throat as he gently,  _ gently _ bumped his nose against the egg. Already, the hatchling inside was developed enough to send out a warm pulse of magic and love and recognition. Oberon let it wash over him for a moment, then two, before closing his eyes and heaving a great, bittersweet sigh. 

"This is the path we have chosen." Despite his ragged, frail appearance, he spoke with a strident clarity and satisfaction. "I will take no Slayer, fight no more battles. Instead, I give my hope and my heart to the generations of the future, so that they might make a better world."

He heaved his weakened body closer, to wrap himself around the whole of the dais, the lacrima spires, the coffin, and his precious egg, all that was left of his bright and brilliant Endellion. As night yearned for day, so too did the Moon yearn for his Sun.

_ My love, I am on my way now. _

Magic power gathered at his core, arching off his body in bright, searing flickers of white static. He only had eyes for his egg.

"My child…" he began, "I am so sorry that I will not be there to guide you when you finally leave that egg. But my life is a small price to pay to give you a chance at living in a world at peace, and my magic will seek for you a Champion to guide and protect you as you grow. I cannot promise that you won't face hardships, but I  _ can _ promise that you will not be alone."

The Moon Dragon bowed forward to rest his head on his foreclaws, eyelids drooping steadily. White light continued to fill the room, wrapping around the dais, and Oberon. It gathered in ribbons around his egg, the quavering outline of a magic circle, tied like a bow around the glittering orb. He kept his gaze on it for as long as he could. Somewhere in the background, his ears registered the crackle of glass as his body slowly began to turn to solid, white crystal. 

"If nothing else, my child… keep in your heart this most ancient… law of the universe." He whispered, his voice growing steadily softer and slower as he faded. "...In all of time and space… there are only three Truths:...All things die… All things rot… All things…" 

His eyes fluttered shut as the crystal sheen closed in around him, and Oberon's words were lost beneath a great rumbling gust of air, the shuddering sigh of his final breath echoing out past the skylight. 

And on the horizon, morning broke. 


End file.
